Nathan Tinkler finds a buyer for $25 million Coffs Harbour estate

Former coal magnate-turned-discharged bankrupt Nathan Tinkler looks to have found a buyer for his Sapphire Beach estate, north of Coffs Harbour, but with a 15 per cent discount to his $30 million asking price.

Sotheby’s selling agent James McCowan said earlier this week that the property had found a buyer in a successful person who comes from the Coffs Harbour area – but it was not Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe.

The agent, Tinkler and administrators were yet to respond to inquiries before publication, but an independent source was told it had sold for about $25 million.

Marketing for the property was removed from property sites on Thursday.

Settlement will confirm the result, but it was always expected to smash all local property records given it is a consolidation of three sites totalling 1.8 hectares of absolute beachfront and features a 15-bedroom, 15-bathroom family compound built by former Microsoft executive Jaybe Ammons and his wife, Shelley.

Noorinya took shape about 20 years ago after Ammons quit Microsoft in 1999 and spent the following two years looking for the perfect place to build their ideal home on the state’s coastline, before securing the Sapphire Beach site at a cost of $2.75 million.

Architect Rosalie Stollery was commissioned to build the Balinese-style house, with two separate villas and a main residence that includes two kitchens, a home cinema, gymnasium, two studies, a 25-metre lap pool and a children’s playground.

Tinkler was riding high in 2008 when he bought Noorinya for $11.5 million, just a couple of months after selling more than $420 million worth of his shares in Macarthur Coal and taking the title of Australia’s richest person aged 40 or under.

Tinkler had also recently established his Patinack Farm racehorse enterprise, and in 2011 purchased the Newcastle Knights NRL team, among other trophy investments.

But in 2016 he was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court, and in a ripple effect of that he sold Patinack Farm, having already relinquished the Newcastle Knights.

Tinkler remains the sole owner of his Noorinya Holdings, the corporate entity that owns his Sapphire Beach home, but it was placed into administration two years ago and the property’s title carries four caveats from outstanding creditors, of which one is the Commissioner of State Revenue.

In June, it was revealed that the City of Coffs Harbour was chasing Tinkler for five years’ worth of outstanding rates, estimated at more than $105,000 since 2018.

Tinkler’s is among 40 properties that owe a collective $1.15 million in outstanding rates and charges to council, and while a motion was passed in April to proceed with the sale of land process, Tinkler was behind the decision to sell the property.